The present invention relates in general to a variable height support apparatus and more specifically to a variable height support apparatus for use in combination with a solid object dispenser such as a pill or capsule dispenser. The variable height support of this invention is an improvement in that it allows a dispenser for filling blister packs with pills or capsules to be easily modified to dispense pills or capsules of various thicknesses without reconfiguration or modification of the dispenser apparatus.
With the conventional pill or capsule card filling apparatus it is generally necessary to modify or reconfigure the apparatus whenever changing the size, and particularly the thickness of the pills or capsules to be placed in the receptacle portions of the conventional pill or capsule card or blister pack.
Blister packs, consisting of a molded semi-rigid base covered and sealed by a rupturable material, are commonly used for packaging pills and capsules. Blister packs are used both by pharmaceutical companies which manufacture the drugs and package them in blister packs, and by smaller health care facilities which use the blister packs for packaging individual doses. These blister packs are also manufactured by companies in the business of providing unfilled blister packs for filling by third parties.
Many conventional dispensers are manufactured to dispense only one size or shape of pill or capsule. Such dispensers are commonly used by pharmaceutical companies which are geared to produce the filled pill or capsule cards or blister packages in large quantities for a particular pill or capsule.
However, for smaller manufacturers or health care facilities it is desirable to be able to produce and fill the cards or blister packages with pills or capsules of various sizes and shapes and use a minimum number of different dispenser. A single, easily modified dispenser is particularly suited to this portion of the industry.
Conventional dispensers are available which can be modified to dispense pills or capsules of varying shapes and sizes. However, these conventional dispensers do not include the improvements included in the present invention as described more fully herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.